PROTECT THE PARAGON!

The Paragon is an iconic restaurant in Katoomba NSW. It is one of the last remaining, finest, and most intact examples of the great, inter-war, regional restaurants.

The current lessee has announced intentions to leave the property in May 2018 and to remove or sell off much of the contents. Including a great many items from the earliest times of The Paragon, the contents are an important part of cultural heritage, documenting much of the history of the restaurant and confectionery business founded in 1916 by a young immigrant from Kythera. Collectively, the contents show the important part The Paragon played in the community, and the development of Australian cuisine and cafe culture.

The collection must not be allowed to be dispersed

Friends of The Paragon Inc., believe that the collection should be preserved and retained, intact, within the community and be accessible to the community and the many visitors to the region.

In a further alarming development, the lessee has sought to register the original trade marks of The Paragon Katoomba as the intellectual property of a private Trust based in Sydney. If this attempt is successful, it could see “The Paragon Katoomba” brand confectionery neither made at The Paragon nor in Katoomba!

Please help - The deadline is end of March 2018.

The petitioned register Opposition to the granting of Trade Mark applications 1909328 1909334 1909344 under Class 30 and to the granting of 1909328 under Class 43 and call on IP Australia to ensure that these historic Trade marks cannot be alienated from the property where the products have been produced for over a century *.

The petitioners also call upon the Blue Mountains City Council to take all actions available to it to prevent the collection of movable heritage items within The Paragon from being dispersed or removed from the Blue Mountains community.

BACKGROUND

* Trade mark Class 30 covers confectionery. Approval under Class 43 would prevent the name "The Paragon Katoomba" from being used by any business providing food service.

The Paragon Katoomba was established in 1916. Under the entrepreneurial guidance of its founder, Zac Simos and his wife Mary, it became renown for the quality of its food service, its European influenced interiors and its legendary confectionery, made on premises since its inception. Its iconic status extended beyond the local community, to the many visitors to the Blue Mountains – one of Australia's most popular tourist destinations-- who have enjoyed The Paragon hospitality and its treats.

Contrary to some news reports in early 2018, The Paragon will not be closing. The premises at 65 Katoomba Street will continue to operate as a restaurant under its original name. A new operator, hopefully with entrepreneurial skills to match Zac Simos, will respond to the opportunity to blend the historic legacy and twenty-first century customer expectations, and return The Paragon to its former standards.

However, The Paragon faces an urgent threat to the survival of its extraordinary collection of artefacts and movable heritage items that, as an intact collection, form a unique record of the history of the restaurant, its confectionery and its part in the many interleaved threads in the Australian story.